We’re in Jeopardy!

It’s the biggest Jeopardy! controversy since host Alex Trebek shaved off his moustache. Producers of the long-running TV quiz show have announced that Canadians are no longer eligible to sign on as contestants.

If the ruling stands, it won’t be long before the only Canadian face on the program is that of Sudbury, Ont.-born Trebek.

To put our nation’s plight in language familiar to the show’s producers, we’ll take “Notable Injustices” for $500, Alex.

Evidence of the ban can be found on a page of the show website dealing with contestant eligibility. It cryptically notes: “At this time we are precluded from accepting registration information from Canadian residents.”

Ouch! This from a show that even let a computer play. Canadian themes haven’t exactly been a strong point of the program, with one contestant flaming out in spectacular fashion last year on failing to correctly answer a few basic questions to do with cities.

In fairness to the folks in charge at Jeopardy!, they aren’t motivated by anti-Canuck bigotry. Rather, they appear to be afraid of running afoul of Canada’s online privacy regulations.

As reported by the Star’s Robin Levinson King, a spokesperson for the show attributed the prohibition to “international laws governing how information is shared over the Internet.” The precise reason for the ban remains unclear.

Any Canadian who has already filled out the form to be a contestant, and been accepted onto the list to compete with brainiacs from the United States, can still do so. But the ban is grim news for those still hoping to sign on.

It’s a pity the show’s creator, talk-show-host-turned-media-mogul Merv Griffin, isn’t alive to sort this out.

Jeopardy! producers insist they are trying to solve the problem and working to restore Canadian eligibility. That may require some legal brain-work. Time to cue the mellow theme song familiar to generations of Jeopardy! viewers and urge them to get on with it.

Somewhere north of the 49th parallel the next Ken Jennings might well be waiting, eager to break that Jeopardy! star’s record of 74 victories in a row, only to be blocked from a chance at glory by some cross-border kerfuffle.

In traditional Jeopardy! fashion we’ll state our response in the form of a question: What is, a huge shame?

The precise reason for the ban remains unclear